Health issues in India
Telemedicine can provide a useful route for patients getting a consultation who otherwise face difficulty in seeing a doctor. However, the country’s apex doctors’ network has called for clear guidelines on the practise amidst legal uncertainty following a recent court case. Two doctors were found culpable by the Bombay High Court (BHC) in the death […]
Is lack of pesticide awareness killing our farmers? Vijay Sardar – a resident of Dahigaon in the Akola district of the state – was admitted to Government Medical College (GMC) in Akola on August 7th with contact pesticide poisoning. He died five days later, aged 32. As of August 17th, there have been an additional […]
Pollution is not only corroding our air but has made most of India’s groundwater undrinkable. An investigation by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has found high levels of groundwater contamination across the country. Groundwater exists underground in the pores of the soil and cracks in the rock. Its significance is often overlooked. However, groundwater […]
“It is dirty everywhere”, this is how Amish Das describes his home: Boragaon, a landfill site which sprawls across 94 acres of wetland in Guwahati City in northeastern Assam. Amish, whose story was recounted in a feature for The Independent last year, has lived in Boragaon his entire life. His living is made through scavenging, […]
India’s vast shipyards rake in nearly a billion dollars a year for the country. Here, decommissioned ships are sent from across the globe to be broken down for parts or scrapped. However, is this industry built at the expense of the health and lives of its workers? Alang-Sosiya in Gujarat is the largest of these […]
Indian innovation will benefit from a US$125 million loan from the World Bank. This follows an agreement signed by the Indian government and the World Bank’s investment arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The loan will target India’s biopharmaceutical and medical devices sectors through the ‘Innovate in India for Inclusiveness’ project, also […]
Topical steroid creams can no longer be sold over the counter in India. This is per a notification issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), banning the sale of fourteen topical steroid creams and ointments without prescription. The ban comes after dermatologists raised concerns that overuse of such creams is leading to […]
India’s environmental performance is one of the worst in the world. On environmental health, it’s the worst. A global index places India 177th place in a list of 180 countries ranked on their environmental performance. Only the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh and Burundi place lower. The Economic Performance Index (EPI) measures rankings against […]
A controversial tobacco ruling has been stayed by India’s Supreme Court, leading public health advocates to rejoice – and the tobacco industry to fume. Last year, the Karnataka High Court (KHC) ruled against a Union health ministry directive which said pictorial health warnings had to cover 85 percent of the display area on tobacco product […]
In a remarkable feat of Indian innovation, electrocardiograms (ECGs) may now become more readily available to those in rural environments. This has the potential diagnose many people who would otherwise unknowingly suffer from heart conditions, without the need to travel to specialist hospitals. Scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center — a group of individuals […]
